Get the Daily News Digest in your inbox each morning. Sign Up

Taylor calls on Stewart to recuse herself from IVF case

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama chief justice candidate Bryan Taylor has called on his opponent Sarah Stewart, a sitting justice on the Alabama Supreme Court, to recuse herself from further possible votes on the in-vitro fertilization case that has led IVF providers across the state to pause their services.

In a statement on Thursday, Taylor pointed to $979,000 in campaign contributions Stewart had received from political action committees that themselves had received significant contributions from Cunningham Bounds, a Mobile-based legal firm that represented the plaintiffs in the IVF case.

“After hearing oral arguments in the case last September, and while the case was under her consideration, Stewart’s campaign received hundreds of thousands of dollars from PACs heavily funded by the plaintiffs’ law firm in the case,” Taylor said. 

“Those campaign contributions create the appearance of a conflict of interest that requires recusal.”

Republican chief justice candidates Bryan Taylor (left) and Sarah Stewart (right).

On Feb. 12, Cunningham Bounds made a $75,000 contribution to the Montgomery-based Progress for Justice PAC, just four days before the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos outside of the womb carried similar legal protections to those of children.

Four days after the court’s ruling on Feb. 20, Progress for Justice PAC, donated $304,000 to Stewart’s campaign. 

Cunningham Bounds has also made two separate contributions of $100,000 to the Montgomery-based Pride PAC II and T-Town PAC II, both of which donated $280,000 each to Stewart’s campaign since late December. 

Stewart told Alabama Daily News Thursday that she was unable to comment on Taylor’s calls for her to recuse herself, with judicial ethics law strictly prohibiting judges from discussing matters related to ongoing cases.

While the Alabama Supreme Court issued its ruling on Feb. 16, involved parties still have a window of time to file what’s known as an application for rehearing, which, if filed, would force the court to consider the request and potentially rehear the case. 

Until a certificate of judgment on the case is issued by the court on the IVF case, justices are strictly prohibited from speaking openly about related matters.

The financial connection between the firm involved in the IVF case, Taylor argued, was enough to warrant Stewart recusing herself from further votes on the case under judicial ethics law, specifically an excerpt that suggests judges should recuse themselves from cases in which their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

Taylor has led an aggressive campaign in the race for chief justice, having labeled Stewart as “the most liberal justice on the Supreme Court” given her support from trial lawyers and their associated PACs.

Conversely, Stewart has largely avoided taking shots at her opponent, and instead has focused in her campaign on touting her judicial experience, which includes nearly 20 years serving in the court system, and six years on the Alabama Supreme Court.

Stewart has, however, responded to Taylor’s assertion that her support from trial lawyers suggests her to be a “liberal justice,” telling ADN that she considered the “accusation that trial lawyers (to be) democrats” as “an old, outdated argument.”

She was also critical of the nearly $648,000 reportedly spent by Fair Courts America in support of Taylor’s campaign, a Super PAC founded by Republican mega-donor Richard Uihlein that she called an “out-of-state dark money group.”

“At least my money comes from Alabama businesses and those who rely on a well-functioning legal system, not some out–of-state dark money group,” Stewart previously told ADN.

Taylor has told ADN that his campaign has no affiliation with Fair Courts America, but that he welcomed their support.

Stewart joined the 8-1 majority opinion that decided, in the case of destroyed frozen embryos, responsible parties could be held liable under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, essentially granting frozen embryos the same legal protections as children. 

Both Taylor and Stewart agreed with the ruling, though Taylor expanded on his position with ADN to say he was supportive of carving out protections for IVF providers, something lawmakers have been scrambling to do in recent weeks.

To see Stewart’s campaign financials in their entirety, click here, and for Taylor’s, click here. The primary election is  Tuesday.

Get the Daily News Digest in your inbox each morning.

Name(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Web Development By Infomedia